The present invention relates to the field of circuit boards, and more particularly, to an ejector assembly.
Presently, circuit boards or blades that are made to be inserted into a chassis are difficult to insert and remove from the chassis. Current assemblies that allow the blades to lock into place within the chassis are not designed to allow a user easy handling of the blade. Many times, an ejector mechanism does not have any lever or handle that allows the user to grasp it and pull the blade out of the chassis. Thus, it is desirable to have an ejector assembly that allows for easy manipulation of the blade as well as locking the blade into place in the chassis.
In addition, each blade in a chassis generally has a number of cables connected to the front end of the blade. These cables tend to be cumbersome and unmanageable as the number of cables connected to the blades increase. Products exist that attempt to combat this problem. For example, there are products such as raceways that run vertically adjacent to the chassis and route the cables away from the blades and the chassis. In addition, raceways coupled adjacent to the blades and above the chassis also route the cables away from the blades. These raceways may serve to combat the problem of cumbersome cables hanging in front of the blades. However, it creates new problems when an individual blade must be removed from the chassis. In this case, it is difficult to discern which cables routed to the raceways are connected to which blades in the chassis. Then, the task of removing an individual blade is made very difficult. Thus, it is desirable to have an ejector assembly for each blade that holds the cables connected to that blade and allows for easy insertion and separation of the blade.
Accordingly, an ejector assembly is provided. The ejector assembly is detachably coupled to a circuit board to allow the circuit board to be locked into place in a chassis and separated from the chassis. The ejector assembly comprises a base portion and a locking portion. The base portion is rotatably coupled to the circuit board via a connector. The locking portion is capable of locking the circuit board into place when the ejector assembly is moved from a first position to a second position while the circuit board is in the chassis. In an alternative embodiment, the ejector assembly further comprises a holder to hold a number of cables.